Edited by Alan P. Escher and Alice Li .

624 pages .

The discovery of the hormone insulin by Frederick Banting and colleagues in the early 1920’s is one of the greatest medical breakthroughs and has saved millions of lives over the years. The significance of the discovery is underscored by the fact that type 1 diabetics still have an absolute requirement for daily injections of insulin to live. Clearly, today’s insulin treatments have attained levels of sophistication that have greatly improved clinical outcome compared to early days. Nevertheless, there are still complications associated with current standard of care and there is a pressing need for new means of treating and preventing the disease.

This book consists of a collection of chapters that provide a broad overview of our current knowledge of different aspects of type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and the result of the dysfunction and ultimately destruction of insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells, which is mediated by immune cells of the host that have lost tolerance for the beta cells. We still do not know how the autoimmune process is initiated. A body of evidence points to multiple genetic and environmental factors, and it is likely that different combinations of these factors can cause disease onset. Insulin must be administered once critical beta cell function is lost but the treatment does not faithfully mimic changes in physiological levels of the hormone, which can result in severe complications. Much can and should be done to help individuals coping with the consequences of type 1 diabetes, in particular children who are a main target of the disease. On a higher note, it is anticipated that the clinical complications and loss of quality of life experienced by individuals with type 1 diabetes will be greatly alleviated and possibly eliminated with upcoming therapies that stop pathological autoimmunity and replace beta cells mass using different means. All these important topics are covered in the book, which we hope you will find a valuable source of information.

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